THE GREENHORN'S STORY
In the latter part of June, 1907, a young Italian landed in New York
from the southern part of Italy. He was an ambitious sort of clever
chap. He not only spoke his mother tongue well, but he had a good
command of Spanish and French and was posted on several of the
dialects current in the "boot" or southern part of Italy. He knew very
little of the English tongue, however. Among his various
accomplishments he was also a practical printer.
The career of this young man up to the time of his landing at Ellis
Island is significant, to say the least. He was a native of the little
town of Cananzero in Calabria, one of the provinces of southern Italy.
He had been a teacher there and had taught technical subjects. Later
on he taught in private, and finally became an instructor in
government schools. From Italy he had gone to Brazil, where he spent
seven years of his time. He had engaged in teaching school there, and
he had also worked at the printing trade in Rio de Janeiro, the
capital of Brazil. At one time he had been engaged by the Italian
Consul at Rio de Janeiro to assist that official in legal matters.
The young man's name was Antonio Viola Comito.
In course of time he proved to be the connecting link that joined the
chain of evidence identifying Lupo and Morello legally and
inseparately with the counterfeiting gang which manufactured and
distributed the counterfeit money in the summer of 1909. His own story
in full, which has never been made public before, is given here. This
story of his contains many statements which ought to interest the
public, statements that were not divulged by Comito even at the trial
where he was the pivot upon which turned the conviction of the most
notorious and troublesome band of counterfeiters this country ever
knew. As a result of his damaging evidence, the gang vowed to destroy
him. He has changed his identity completely meanwhile, however, and
was last heard from in South America, where he is very prosperous. He
has a good deal more courage than his own story, as told by him, would
indicate. He will never be reached by the Black-Hand gang without
several of them paying with their lives for his. He is confident of
that.
Comito's own story follows:
"The reader will pardon me, if, in reading this story of my life in
New York, there are errors of language and periods not well expressed.
"During the latter part of 1908 and a good part of 1909, I had
occasion to know many malefactors who horrified me from the very
start, and whom I gradually came to fear as I studied their brutal
character. I refrained from denouncing these men to the police because
I was constantly in danger of losing my life had I done so.
"These men were the leaders of the notorious 'Black-Hand' Society,
which spreads terror among the Italians all over the United States.
While among them I studied the badness, the power, the brutality and
the arrogance of the counterfeiter and the assassin.
"They were not a very civil lot. They were villains incarnate. One of
their characteristic traits is that one alone would not commit a
crime because of cowardice. When a 'job' was to be executed it was
always carried out by three or four directed by a 'corporal,' who was
put in charge by the head bandit. This 'corporal' bossed the job,
remaining all the while in the distance so that in case the operations
of those committing the deed were discovered by the police the
'corporal' would be sure to escape and report the circumstances to the
head bandit of the society. The head bandit would in turn notify all
the other members, when a counsel would be called at which steps would
be taken to aid those apprehended by the police.
"What puzzled me not a little was the fact that when it came to going
to trial for an offense no eye-witness would ever appear in court to
tell of the crime with which the members under arrest might be
charged. Those arrested usually gave fictitious names, and when placed
on trial they were always freed. These men governed their association
by secret orders. They operated on a vast scale and extended their
crime even to the kidnapping of little children."
At this point Comito enters a long apology to those people of Southern
Italy who are good citizens and law-abiding. He does not refer in
this article, he says, to the honest Sicilians, who labor and earn
their living honestly. It is of the malefactors, he says, that he
speaks.
Comito then tells of entering New York and meeting his brother at the
Battery. He relates his sensations at seeing the tall buildings of New
York and the hurrying crowds in the noisy streets.
After going to the home of his brother in Bleecker Street, Comito
says:
"During the dinner I was carefully advised by my uncle, an intelligent
man and very cautious, having served the Italian government for twelve
years as non-commissioned officer in the line infantry. He said, 'Do
not acquire bad friendships. Be careful of traps that strangers may
lay for you. There exists in New York a band of malefactors which bear
the name of Black-Hand. Every day this band commits crimes,
assassinating persons, setting fire to houses, breaking in doors,
exploding bombs, and kidnapping children.'
"He told me also never to tell any one where I worked and how much I
earned. He advised me to think only of bettering my condition and
that of my family, because in America, in time, the man with a good
will can acquire a good position."
Perhaps these words that follow may be of interest to the reader in
getting an insight into the mentality of the newly arrived immigrant.
Says Comito:
"My only wish was to work and put aside something; to economize, and
so help the condition of my family and provide some day for my
daughter that she might have a profession. I did not think of evil,
and hoped from day to day to find occupation. I was a printer, and,
though I did not know English, I felt confident of finding work in
some Italian printing-office."
Comito then tells of finding employment in the Italian printing house
of M. Dassori, at No. 178 Park Row, where he was getting along well.
He tells of sending money to Italy to his wife and children. He tells
of his brother here introducing him to honest Italians of the working
class and of how he joined the order of the Sons of Italy and also the
Foresters of America. Comito then relates his rapid rise in the
Foresters, mentioning also how he became Supreme Deputy of the Order
of the Sons of Italy, besides being chosen a member for the Congress
of Italians abroad, which was held in Rome in 1908. He dwells on his
losing employment because of lack of work in the place where he was
employed. After getting employment again he finds himself once more
out of a place, about the beginning of September, 1908. He tells very
frankly of taking up with a lady named Caterina and how they shared
the apartment which he furnished as well as his means afforded. He and
Caterina lived together, he says, "respecting one another as husband
and wife." Describing his affair with Caterina, who, by the way,
enters in some measure into the counterfeiting story, Comito says:
"I, together with Caterina, lived agreeably, and what was earned
weekly was divided equally, and we did not take into account which
earned the more or the less. We made an honest front with friends. I
discharged my duties with the societies with zeal."